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A Stock Assessment Program For Chesapeake Bay Fisheries: Development Of An Alosa Juvenile Index Of Abundance: Annual Report 1991, Douglas A. Dixon, Joseph G. Loesch

Reports

This presentation is the annual report for Contract No. NA17FUO196-0l "A Stock Assessment Program for Chesapeake Bay Fisheries: Development of an Alosa Juvenile Index of Abundance," for the period 1 May 1991 to 31 May 1992. The fishes of concern were the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), American shad (& sapidissima), and the blueback herring (A. aestivalis).

Increased Reactive Oxygen Intermediate Production By Hemocytes Withdrawn From Crassostrea Virginica Infected With Perkinsus Marinus, Rs Anderson, Ky Paynter, Em Burreson

VIMS Articles

Perkinsus marinus is a protozoan parasite responsible for a major infectious disease of the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica. Nonspecific immunity was assayed in oysters with known intensities of infection so that the physiological responses of the host elicited by the parasite could be better understood. This report describes the capacity of hemocytes to generate reactive oxygen intermediates during the progression of the disease. The hemocytes constitute the major internal defense effector system of oysters, and cytotoxic oxygen species are thought to play central roles in antimicrobial activities of hemocytes and other phagocytic cells. Production of oxyradicals by both resting and …

Marine Resource Bulletin Vol. 24, No. 3 & 4, Virginia Sea Grant, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin

Contents

Introduction

How is Seafood Inspected?

HACCP

Virginia's Shellfish Inspection Program

Oyster Packing

Oyster Season

Crab Processing

Fish Processing

Quality Control in the Home

For Commercial/Recreational Fishermen

Fish House Kitchen

An Analysis Of The Legal And Regulatory Status Of The Northeast United States Oyster Industry, W. Barlett Theberge, Et Al

Reports

The purpose of this study was to provide a legal/regulatory profile of the current oyster industry in the northeast region of the United States.

A Comparative Study Of Dry Weight Measurements Of Oyster Soft Tissue, Cheol Mo, Bruce Neilson

Reports

Four alternative drying methods for oyster soft tissue were compared: oven drying at 105, 100 and 80°C and freeze drying. Weights were recorded every 12 hours for 5 days, and after sample treatments were switched, every 24 hours for another 3 days. The time required for all of the oysters in a treatment to reach constant weight were 36, 36, 60, and 120 hours for the 105, 100, 80°C ovens and freeze drier respectively. Within a treatment, the time for an individual oyster to reach constant weight was not related to that weight. For oven drying, drying was rapid and …

Public Oyster Shoal Survey - Spring 1992, Bruce J. Barber

Reports

Oysters have been harvested from Virginia waters as long as humans have inhabited the area. Depletion of natural stocks in the late 1880's led to the establishment of regulations by public fisheries agencies. A survey of bottom areas in which oysters grew naturally was completed in 1896 under the direction of Lt. Baylor, USN. These areas (over 243,000 acres) were set aside by legislative action for public use and have come to be known as the Baylor Survey Grounds or Public Oyster Grounds of Virginia, and are presently administered by VMRC, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (Haven et al., 1978). …

Estimation Of Relative Abundance Of Recreationally Important Finfish In The Virginia Portion Of Chesapeake Bay: Annual Progress Report 1991-1992, James A. Colvocoresses, Patrick J. Geer, Christopher F. Bonzek

Reports

Provisional annual indices of juvenile abundance have been generated from trawl survey data for five species of key recreational importance in the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay (spot, croaker, weakfish, summer flounder and black sea bass) and one species of secondary importance (scup) for the period 1988-1991. Only summer flounder catches resulted in an index that showed a consistent (upward) trend over the four years sampled, but the maximal value recorded for 1991 (2.8) was not statistically significantly higher than the prior year, in contrast to the previous increases observed. Atlantic croaker showed the greatest variability between years, with the …

A Report On The Field Investigation Into Commercial Potential Of The Patagonian Scallop, Chlamys Sp. Off Uruguay, William D. Dupaul, Ronald J. Smolowitz

Reports

BIVAR SA initiated exploratory fishing on a Patagonian scallop bed off the coast of Uruguayo Preliminary indications are that a fishery can be developed, initially on the scale of two to four small vessels. Careful monitoring of the fishery while it being conducted, as well as additional explorations, will determine the lity of the need for a for the The economics to be the The meat count of the scallops produced in may range somewhere between 185-222/kg (85-100/lb.) if small scallops and pieces are removed.

Potomac River White Perch, Marone Americana, Gill Net Study 10-12 March, 1992, Herbert M. Austin

Reports

No abstract provided.

Good Manufacturing Practices For The Harvesting And Processing Of Sea Scallops (Placopecten Magellanicus), William D. Dupaul, Robert A. Fisher, Thomas Rippen

Reports

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Hypoxia And Anoxia On Larval Settlement, Juvenile Growth, And Juvenile Survival Of The Oyster Crassostrea Virginica, Sm Baker, Roger L. Mann

VIMS Articles

The effects of hypoxia and anoxia on oyster (Crassostrea virginica) larval settlement, juvenile growth, and juvenile survival were studied. Settlement was reduced significantly (P < 0.05) in hypoxic treatments, as compared to normoxic treatments , and almost no settlement took place in anoxic treatments. After 96 h, 38% and 4% of the larvae placed in hypoxic and anoxic treatments had settled, while 79% settled in normoxic treatments. In the first 144 h after settlement, juveniles in hypoxic treatments grew one third as much as those in normoxic treatments, while juveniles in anoxic treatments did not grow at all. Median mortality times of recently settled juveniles in hypoxic and anoxic treatments were 131 h and 84 h, respectively. We conclude that hypoxic and anoxic waters have potentially detrimental effects on oyster settlement and recruitment.

Marine Resource Bulletin Vol. 24, No. 1 & 2, Virginia Sea Grant, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin

Contents

Introduction

About the Benthos

Habitat Disruption

Budgeting the Benthos

Management Implications

The Oyster Bar

The Plight of Crassostrea virginica

gigas versus virginica

Environmental Stress = Disease Susceptibility??

Environmental Effects Studies

Mercenaria mercenaria

A Not Entirely Sedentary Existence

For the Recreational/Commercial Fisherman

Marine Notes

Oligomer Composition And Oxygen Binding Of The Hemocyanin Of The Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus, Cp Mangum, J Greaves, Js Rainer

VIMS Articles

In the blue crab, the ratio of hexamers to dodecamers of the O2 carrier hemocyanin varies in natural populations. Isolated dodecamers have a lower O2 affinity and greater cooperativity than isolated hexamers. The difference in O2 binding can also be resolved in native mixtures that differ in polymer composition. A high content of dodecamers in native mixtures is, in fact, correlated with the presence of an invariant polypeptide chain that is believed to link two hexamers to form dodecamers. On the other hand, the content of a variable chain that has been postulated to play a role in hexamer pairing …

Status Of The Major Oyster Diseases In Virginia 1991 A Summary Of The Annual Monitoring Program, Eugene M. Burreson

Reports

No abstract provided.

A Stock Assessment Program For Chesapeake Bay Fisheries: Development Of An Alosa Juvenile Index Of Abundance: Annual Report 1990, Douglas A. Dixon, Joseph G. Loesch

Reports

This presentation is the annual report for Contract No. NA90AA-H-SF671 "A Stock Assessment Program for Chesapeake Bay Fisheries: Development of an Alosa Juvenile Index of Abundance," for the period 15 June 1990 to 31 July 1991. The fishes of concern were the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), American shad (A. sapidissima), and the blueback herring (A. aestivalis).

The abundance of the Alosa stocks, once an important component of the landings of Virginia fisheries, have dramatically decreased in the last decade. The 1981 landings of Alosa species in Virginia were the lowest ever recorded. American shad and river herring are also pursued by …

A Comparison Of Methods For Calculating Condition Index In Eastern Oysters Crassostrea Virginica (Gmelin, 1791), Julia S. Rainier, Roger L. Mann

VIMS Articles

A number of techniques have been reported to estimate condition index in oysters and other bivalve molluscs. We report and compare condition index, estimated by three different methods, for oysters collected from a single reef in the James River, Virginia over a four week period in the summer of 1987. Two indices express condition as a ratio of dry meat weight to shell cavity volume, but differ in methods of estimating shell cavity volume. A third method expresses condition as a ratio of dry meat weight to dry shell weight. Within the size range 36-96 mm length there is no …

Age, Growth, And Reproduction Of The Goosefish Lophius-Americanus (Pisces, Lophiiformes), Michael P. Armstrong, John Musick, James A. Colvocoresses

VIMS Articles

Age, growth, and reproduction were studied in goosefish Lophius americanus collected from National Marine Fisheries Service groundfish surveys and commercial fishing cruises between Georges Bank and Cape Hatteras in the western North Atlantic. Age and growth of L. americanus were determined from vertebral annuli, which became visible at the edge of the vertebral centra in May. Maximum ages of males and females were 9 and 11 years, respectively. Males appeared to experience higher mortality than females in the older age-classes. Von Bertalanffy growth curves calculated for males and females had excellent agreement with back-calculated lengths. The growth rate of L. …

Unexplained Mortalities Of Hatchery-Reared, Juvenile Oysters, Crassostrea Virginica (Gmelin), Vm Bricelj, Se Ford, Fj Borrero, Fo Perkins, Et Al

VIMS Articles

Survival. growth and pathology of juvenile oysters. Crassostrea virginica. in off-bottom culture at Oyster Bay and Fishers Island, New York, were monitored during the summer of 1991 to document and help explain the episodic mass mortalities of cultured seed oysters that have occurred in the northeastern USA over the past several years. Al Oyster Bay. where the more detailed study was conducted. 54 to 7So/o losses affected several 1991 cohorts at mean shell heights ranging from IS to 24 mm, within 3 to 6V, weeks of transfer from the hatchery to growout trays. Mortalities occurred in July and August, at …

Index Of Papers Published In The Journal Of Shellfish Research Volume 1-10 (1981-1991), Michael Castagna, Nancy Lewis, Charles Mcfadden, Mary Gibbons

VIMS Articles

No abstract provided.

Artificial Shelters And Survival Of Juvenile Caribbean Spiny Lobster Panulirus-Argus - Spatial, Habitat, And Lobster Size Effects, David B. Eggleston, Rom Lipcius, Dl Miller

VIMS Articles

A principal mechanism underlying a production hypothesis that artifical reefs increase environmental carrying capacity and eventually the biomass of reef-associated organisms is that these structures reduce predation on reef residents. We tested this predation mechanism with a series of field experiments at two sites (inner-bay sand-seagrass flat, and outer-bay seagrass bed adjacent to coral reefs) in Bahia de la Ascension, Mexico. We examined survival of two size-classes of juvenile Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus tethered in seagrass beds with and without access to artificial lobster shelters, and at different distances from the shelters. The artificial shelters were concrete structures (casitas) …

Stock Structure Of The Bluefish Pomatomus-Saltatrix Along The Mid-Atlantic Coast, John Graves, Jan Mcdowell, Ana M. Beardsley, Daniel Scoles

VIMS Articles

Restriction-fragment length polymorphism analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was used to investigate the genetic basis of stock structure of the bluefish Pomatomus saltatrix along the U. S. mid-Atlantic coast, and to determine the degree of genetic differentiation between mid-Atlantic bluefish and Australian conspecifics. A total of 472 young-of-the-year (YOY) and yearling bluefish collected in New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina over a period of 3 years, and 19 YOY bluefish collected in New South Wales, Australia were analyzed with 9 informative restriction endonucleases. Despite considerable mtDNA variation within samples of U.S. mid-Atlantic bluefish, no significant genetic differentiation was detected among …

A Genetic-Analysis Of Weakfish Cynoscion-Regalis Stock Structure Along The Mid-Atlantic Coast, John Graves, Jan Mcdowell, M. Lisa Jones

VIMS Articles

To investigate the genetic basis of stock structure of the weakfish Cynoscion regalis, a total of 370 individuals was collected from four geographic sites along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States over a period of 4 years. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of weakfish mitochondrial DNA, employing either 6 or 13 restriction endonucleases, demonstrated a low level of intraspecific mtDNA variation, with a mean nucleotide sequence divergence of 0.13% for the pooled samples. The common mtDNA genotype occurred at a frequency of 0.91-0.96 in all samples, and no significant heterogeneity was found among samples in the occurrence of …

Status Of The Virginia Public Oyster Fishery - Spring 1991, Bruce Barber

Reports

This report summarizes data collected during 1991 in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay. The report focuses on the spring oyster survey in Virginia.

Temporal And Spatial Changes In Fecundity Of Eastern Oysters, Crassostrea Virginica (Gmelin, 1791) In The James River, Virginia, Carrollyn Cox, Roger L. Mann

VIMS Articles

A~u1t Crass~strea virgi.nic~ ~Gmelin) were examined during the reproductive season of 1986 to determine temporal and spatial vanation m fecundity among md!Vldual female oysters from four reefs in the James River, Virginia. Sex ratio and oyster abu.ndance were. ~so determined to :acilitate ~s~imation of total reproductive output of oyster assemblages. Fecundity was highly vanable, both w1thm and among locations. Vanation was attributed to differences in oyster size, asynchrony and variation in time since pri~r spawning, prevalence of parasites (especially Haplosporidium nelsoni (MSX) and Perkinsus marinus) and differing salinity regimes.

Comparison Of Condition Index (K) Of Spot (Leiostomus Xanthurus) From The Elizabeth And York Rivers, Virginia, Kinloch Nelson, Herbert M. Austin

VIMS Articles

Condition Index (K) was measured on spot, Leiostomus xanthums from the York ( control) and Elizabeth rivers (Experimental-polluted) in 1983-1985. Condition indices for the two populations were regressed against seasonal temperature at the time of capture. Between 6.0 and 19.0 C the Condition Index of the two populations rises in synchrony. Above 19 .0 C the Elizabeth River Condition Index continues to rise, and the York begins to drop. Above 26 C the York drops to levels approaching those of winter, and the Elizabeth continues to rise to the highest levels measured. It is hypothesized that this disparity is caused …

Msx Disease In Virginia, 1959 To 1965, Jay D. Andrews

Reports

Compilation of 20 unpublished reports and notes on the oyster disease MSX, arranged in chronological order from 1959-1965.

• Notes on oyster mortality --
• Status of Delaware Bay disease of oysters in Chesapeake Bay area --
• Epidemiology - general --
• Status of epidemic diseases of oysters in Virginia--
• Summary of oyster mortality and disease work at the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory for 1960 --
• Notes from talks with Haskin and Carriker at Shallow Water Conference --
• Brief summary of disease studies in Virginia for 1961 --
• Status of diseases of oysters in Chesapeake Bay -- Table 1: Samples of Incidence data for …

Ecology And Dynamics Of River Herring Larvae In The Pamunkey River. Virginia: : June 1, 1989 - December 31, 1991, E. N. Sismour, Joseph G. Loesch

Reports

The early life histories of anadromous herrings (Alosa species) in tidal freshwater are poorly understood. Knowledge of the ecology of anadromous herring larvae in tidal freshwater ecosystems is important in order to understand factors which cause population fluctuations, to mitigate potential adverse effects of modifications to these systems, and to facilitate restoration of populations. This investigation was undertaken to examine the distribution and relative abundance of larval river herring (alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, and blueback herring, A. aestivalis) and their potential zooplankton prey in tidal freshwater of the Pamunkey River, Virginia, and to quantify growth of larvae between locations that may …

Oyster Spatfall In Virginia Waters: 1991 Annual Summary, Bruce J. Barber

Reports

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) conducts surveys of oyster spatfall (or "setting") in Virginia waters throughout the summer reproductive period. This survey provides an estimate of the potential of a particular area for receiving a "strike" or set of oysters on the bottom and helps define the timing of setting events. Information obtained from this effort is valuable to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) for its shell repletion program, and to private oyster growers, both of which are interested in maximizing the timing of shell planting. In addition, by maintaining a long-term data base, trends in spatfall …

Sharks Of Virginia Waters, Steve Branstetter, John Musick

Reports

No abstract provided.

Tray Studies Of Oyster Diseases On Eastern Shore Of Virginia, 1959 To 1981 : Mortality And Disease Prevalence Of Sso And Msx, Jay D. Andrews

Reports

Compilation of data records from MSX and SSO oyster disease tray experiments conducted in various seaside bays of Virginia's Eastern Shore between 1959 and 1981.